William Mercer Taylor

Rev. William Taylor, D.D., who, for forty-two years, was the devoted and beloved pastor of the Westfield Presbyterian Church of North Beaver, Township, was born in a log cabin near Enon Valley, Pa., March 4, 1834, and passed out of life, crowned with deeds well done, at midnight of December 30, 1902, when aged almost sixty-nine years. His parents were Samuel and Charity (Mercer) Taylor, farming people, and representatives of old and prominent families.

William Mercer Taylor was reared on his father's farm and enjoyed the advantages which come to children growing up in a family where the father is a man of ample means and of social prominence. Samuel Taylor served Lawrence County two terms as associate judge. The youth easily completed the district school course and a course of study in Hiram Eclectic Institute, under James P. Garfield's tutorship, afterwards President Garfield, and then taught a few terms in country schools, after which he entered Jefferson College, later Washington and Jefferson, where he was graduated in 1858. Following this came his graduation from the Allegheny Theological Seminary, in 1861. Direct from the seminary he went to the Westfield Presbyterian Church at Mount Jackson, and, although urged time and again to accept calls in important and growing towns, he remained with the people of his first-choice, devoting his life to their well-being. On June 12, 1861, Mr. Taylor was installed pastor of the Westfield Church, which remained his only charge throughout the period of forty-two years of ministerial life, receiving 500 into the church, 300 of whom united on profession. During the Civil War he served as a member of the Christian Commission, in the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Cumberland. In 1868 he received the honorary title of D. D. from his alma mater. Before the consolidation of the synods of Pennsylvania, he was elected moderator of the Synod of Erie, in 1878. He was the recipient of many honors, but none of these turned his course from the simple, faithful performance of duty as he saw it. In 1894-95 he made a tour around the world, having spent six months profitably in the Holy Land in 1878. He was a man of erudition and was engaged for many years in literary work, and published many papers in the religious press, including "Letters of Foreign Travel." He also published a booklet, "Historical Sketch of Moravian Missions Among the Delaware Indians," and a diary of Dr. Dilworth. As a pastor he will long be remembered and the helpful influence he exerted can never be measured by words. Washington-Jefferson College has been made the repository of the large collection of valuable relics and curiosities collected in Dr. Taylor's visits in his own country and abroad.

Dr. Taylor was married (first) to Miss Lorinda Packer, of Hiram, May 21, 1861, who died in 1883. On September 24, 1885, he was married (second) to Miss Sophy Loring, a daughter of Dr. William Loring, a prominent physician of Springfield, Mass.

Twentieth Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, 1908, pages 463-464